‘Megyn Moments’ highlighted GOP forum

Updated 2:26 pm, Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Who won the "Top 10" Republican presidential forum on Fox? Megyn Kelly.

She was not a candidate but one of the three moderators. Her colleagues Bret Baier and Chris Wallace also did a good job. All were firm but fair.

They seemed determined to show that even though they work for the right-tilting Fox News Channel they can be as tough on conservatives as they are on liberals. But Kelly was the toughest of all.

For example, she asked Donald Trump about his references to women as "fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals." Trump quipped, "Only Rosie O’Donnell." Kelly did not back off.

"You once told a contestant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ it would be a pretty picture to see her on her knees. Does that sound to you like the temperament of a man we should elect as president?" Kelly asked Trump.

The billionaire real-estate mogul and sometime TV star said he did not have time for "political correctness."

Such a demonstration of Kelly’s prosecutorial style is known as a "Megyn Moment."

During the Fox presidential forum, there were several other "Megyn Moments."

She told Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon new to politics, "You thought Alan Greenspan had been Treasury secretary, instead of Federal Reserve chair."

She put this question to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker after noting his opposition to abortion in all circumstances: "Would you really let a mother die rather than have an abortion?

Two past "Megyn Moments" are remembered by many TV viewers.

On election night 2012, Republican strategist Karl Rove expressed doubt on Fox that President Obama had won even though Fox called it that way.

Kelly questioned Rove’s math and walked down the hall to the Fox decision desk to confirm its projection - which, of course, turned out to be correct.

Dick Cheney experienced his own "Megyn Moment" when she interviewed him about his denunciation of the Obama policy in Iraq. She asked the former vice president what he says to those who accuse him of being so wrong about Iraq.

I must admit not all Kelly’s questions in the Fox forum qualified as "Megyn Moments."

After the last commercial break, she said a question had come in from a person on Facebook, a co-sponsor of the event. He wanted to know if any of the candidates had received word from God about what to do.

Kelly looked up at Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas and said she would start with him: "Any word from God?"

Neither his response nor the response from any of the others was memorable.

Kelly, 44, is from Upstate New York. She has a degree in political science from Syracuse University and a law degree from Albany Law School.

Her first marriage ended in divorce. She has three children and is married to writer Doug Brunt.

After working for a television station in Washington, she started with Fox in 2004. Her ascent was rapid. Fox News boss Roger Ailes was said to have identified her as a star.

In 2013 she began hosting "The Kelly File" at 9 p.m. weekday, and Sean Hannity was moved to 10 p.m.

She told USA Today recently that she is "not a partisan person" and has voted for Republicans and Democrats. "I care about my audience," she said. "I care about liars."

Here is a warning to anyone scheduled to be interviewed by her: Beware of the “Megyn Moment.”

Paul Janensch was a newspaper editor and taught journalism at Quinnipiac University. His "Memo on the Media" can be heard at 6:40 a.m. Wednesdays and again at 8:40 a.m. Saturdays at wqun.com.